The Russian Admiral Vladimirsky has been spotted off the coast in northern Scotland which is examining key sites such as the North Sea pipelines prompting fears this could be a possible sabotage operation.
Last year a Danish news crew published a video showing a close encounter with the Admiral Vladimirsky which showed a man in military fatigues wearing a balaclava carrying an AK-47 assault rifle on the vessel.
Liberal Democrat MP Jamie Stone raised concerns and has called on the Defence Secretary Ben Wallace to answer to the House of Commons what the government’s response is going to be.
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Stone called for Defence Secretary Ben Wallace to come to the Commons to reveal how the Government was responding to the incursions.
The MP for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross constituency in northern Scotland, said, “It is not a trawler, it is not a pleasure boat, it is a spy ship complete with armed guards.
“It has been snooping around the Beatrice oil field and examining the interconnector to my constituency.
“It has been snooping around the oil stations in the North Sea and the oil pipelines.”
Stone made reference to the Nord Stream gas pipeline which mysteriously blew up last year.
The MP said, “We all know what happened in recent times in the Baltic with the gas pipeline.
“I do not take kindly to this happening and I regard this as a very important security issue.
“It affects the United Kingdom and our security in terms of energy.
“What advice can you give me, Madam Deputy Speaker, in getting the Secretary of State for Defence to come to this place and make a statement in view of this urgent situation?”
Deputy speaker Dame Rosie Winterton told MPs in the Commons, “I am sure he knows that there are routes where he can request a statement to be made, but I have to tell him that at this point we have had no notice of a statement.
“Again his comments will have been heard and I am sure that they will be fed back to the Secretary of State.”
In October last year Scotland declared a “major incident” as all communications had been cut off in the Shetland Isles.
Britain was warned that the critical energy and internet infrastructure is at risk after the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines were blown up in the Baltic Sea and Moscow is strongly suspected to be behind the attack.
At the time the Shetland Islands were completely cut off from the UK as phone lines were down including mobile phones and the internet was also off.
The Defence Secretary made note of the “mysterious” damage to the Nord Stream pipelines, and then warned this is a reminder of how “fragile” the British economy and infrastructure is.
Wallace said the MoD are sending out two “specialist ships” to patrol and protect the UK’s subsea network as its “internet and energy are highly reliant on pipelines and cables.”
A BT Group spokesperson said at the time, “Due to a break in a third-party subsea cable connecting Shetland with the Scottish mainland, some phone, broadband and mobile services are affected.
